Electric-line switch.



P. FISHER.

ELECTRIC LINE SWITCH.

APPLIHATION FILED D1201, 1009.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

BSHBETB-SHEET 1 Qwuwwboz fill/2' 129/161" P. FISHER.

ELECTRIC LINE swma. APPLICATION FILED DEO.1,1909.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

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FRANK FISHER, F REARDAN, WASHINGTON.

ELECTRIC-LINE SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 13. 1912.

Application filed December 1, 1909. Serial No. 530,860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK Fisnun, a citizen of the United States,residing at Beardan, in the county of Lincoln, State of Washington, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Line Switches;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such "as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

.This invention relates to improvements in electric switches which maybe employed in connectionwith various electrical appliances such astrolley lines, conductor wires whereby electrical power is transmittedfrom place to place, and the like, and has for one of its objects tosimplify and improve the construction and increase the efliciency andutility of devices of this character.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simply constructeddevice which may be arranged at any convenient point, and which may beapplied to single or double lines without material structural changes inthe parts and applicable more particularly to high tension circuits.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnrwel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described andthen specifically pointed out in the claims; and, in the drawingsillustrative of the preferred embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is aside elevation of the improved device arranged in connection with asingle line. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3is a side elevation of the improved device arranged in connection with adouble line. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 3.

The improved device may be located at any convenient point, and isgenerally supported upon a suitable frame work, and this rame work maybe of any required size or of any suitable construction, but. for thepurpose of illustration :1 conventional supportmg frame is representedat 10, and includes a plurality of transverse supporting members 11-42located at the ends of the frame and an intermediate transverse member13. Rising from the end member 11 are two supports or standards 1j415,while similar supports or standards 16-17 and 18-19 are supportedrespectively upon the transverse members 12 and 13. The members areconstructed of suitable insulating material and upturned at theiropposite ends and tact members 3839, as shown.

each is provided with an encircling bearing channel near its upper endto support suitable clamping devices, and as the clamping devices whichare carried by the members 1et-15 are precisely alike, like referencecharacters are employed for both. The clamping devices above notedcomprise reycrsely curving bands 20- 21 bearing with- 1n the-channels ofthe members l4- and coupled at their terminals by ti'ansverse boltsE22-23, the main line wires, represented at 24 being coupled by the bolt22 between the members and 21 at one end, while spring contact plates2526 are coupled thereto by bolts 23, the plates 25-26 being directedupwardly, as shown. Similar clamping devices are carried by the members1617 and each consists of curved clamp members 2728 supporting the linewires 24 by then; atone end by a bolt 29 and supporting downwardlydirected spring contacts 30-3l by clamp bolts 32 at their op,-

posite ends, as shown. The members 18-19 are also provided with clampingdevices comprising curved plates 3334 and connected togethtr at one endby a bolt 35 and pivotally supportlng an arm 36 by a bolt 37. The arm 36is preferably formed of two portions placed side by side, and betweenthe arm portions at one end is secured a contact plate 38'adaptcd toengage between the spring contacts 2526, and with a similar contactplate 39 secured between the arm portions at the opposite end andoperating between the contact plates 303l. A conductor wire 40 isconnected at its ends to each of the con- By this arrangement it will beobvious that when the arm 36 is so arranged that the contact members3839 are in electrical connection with the contacts 2526 and EEO-31 thecurrent will be continuous between the two portions of the line wires24s If, however, the arm 36 be tilted upon its pivot 37 the circuit willbe broken by disengaging the plates 3839 from the spring contacts, andone feature of the improved device is the means whereby this movement ofthe arm 36 is accomplished and this mechanism will now be described.

The arm members 36 are depressed at one point as shown at 41 andpivotally connected to the arm at this depressed point is a clamp deviceformed of reversely curving bands 42-4t3 fitting in annular channels ininsulating devices 45 supported upon upright members one of which isrepresented at 46. Each of the band members 42 is rovided with an uwardly directed stan ard 47 while each 0? the band members 43 isprovided with a similar standard 48, the standards extending uponopposite sides of the dc ressed portion 4:]. of the arm 36 and securethereto by a transverse bolt 49L By this means the vertical members 46are pivotally coupled to the arms 36 and insulated therefrom. Risingfrom the lower portion of the frame work 1.0 are two standards 50-5],and pivoted at 52--53 to these standards is a yoke member 54 with alever arm .35 extending centrally from the-yoke frame. By this means itwill be obvious that the vertical movement of the lever 55 will producecorresponding vertical movement of the upright members 46 and thusactuate the arms 36. Rising from the frame work 10 adjacent to the leverarm 55 is a curved guide member 56 having transverse apertures 5758,while the lever arm 55 is provided with a transverse aperture adapted toalternately register with the apertures 57-58. The a erture 57 is solocated that the aperture 0 the lever arm will register therewith whenthe arm 36 is in its operative position, or with the contacts 38-39 in"engagement with their respective contacts, as shown in Fi 1, and if itis desired to lock the arm in its closed position, a bolt or othersuitable locking devicewnay be insorted through the registeringapertures. The other aperture 58 will be so located that it willregister with the aperture in the lever arm when the latter is in itsdepressed position, and hold the arm 36 with its contact membersdisconnected from the spring contacts, and the lever arm may be lockedin 0 en position if preferred by a locking mem er passing through theaperture 58.

The improved device may be applied at any desired point in the circuitand is simple in construction, ca be inexpensively manufactured and appied, and adapted without material structural changes to line wires ofdifferent kinds and to line wires employed for different purposes.

In 3 and ei the improved apparatus arranged for use in connection ovithLWO or more lines, and is substantially the same except that two of thearms are; employed arranged end to end and. a single operating meansarranged to simultaneously actuate both arms. As many of the partsemployed in the modified or double structure are the same as those emplcyed in the single structure illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, likereference characters are employed for like parts in each.

In the double or mo lified structure two of the intermediate transversemembers are members are the insulator devices 18-49 with the arms 36coupled thereto in the same manner as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Theterminal transverse members 11-12 are provided respectively with theinsulator members 14- 15 and 16-17 and each provided with s ringcontacts 25-26 and 30-31, the only lfierence bein that the contacts areboth directed upwar y instead of one upwardly and one downwardly asshown in the sin le structure. The frame 10 in the rloul lc structure islikewise provided with a central intermediate transverse member 61carrying insulator members 6263, and each of the insulator members isprovided respectively with cncirclin clamp members 64-65 constitutingcom uctors and. carrying spring cont-acts 66--67 at two opposite, sides.The arms 36 are provided at their outer ends with the contact plates3839 in the same Figs. 1 and 2, and at theirinner'ends the arms 36 areprovided with contacts 69- 70 engaging respectively with the springcontacts 66--67. The aims 36 are provided with the depressed portions 41as in the structures shown in Figs. I'and 2 and pivoted at 37 to theinsulator menibers 19. in the same manner as in the structureshown inFigs.1and2,as shown. Located beneath the transverse members 61 andlikewise beneath the insulator members 655-63 are two other insulatormembers one of which is shown at 71 and provided with a clamp device 72and including a longitudinally extending bar 73, the bar being coupledat its ends by links to the lever arms 36,- one pair of the links beingrepresentedat 7 i-75. willbe understood that each pair of the arms 36 isprovided with one of the.insulatcr members 71, the bars 73 and a 'pairof the links 74-75, but one pair only of the links and bars are shown.The insulator members 71 are each connected to a vertical mem her, oneof=which is shown at 7 6,andtheitwo vertical members are coupled by atransversely extending yoke frame 77, and rising from the frame work 10are spaced standards 7 8--7 9 pivoted at -81 to the yoke frame. The yokeframe is provided with an intermediate lever arm 82 by means of whichthe yoke frame is actuated and the members 76, 71, 73 and 74-75 actuatedto operate the arms 36, as will be obvious. The lever arm 82 operatesthrough a curved guide member 83 having spaced transverse apertures S t-85 which register with a corresponding apercn'iployed and indicated bythe characters 59 60, and connected to these transverse nor as thesimilar mechanism illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

ture in the lever arm 82 to receive a locking It will be noted that thepivots 37 are located nearer to the contacts 31-32 than to the contacts252(3 in Figs. 1 and 2 and nearer to the contacts 2526 than to thecontacts (ESL-7O in the modification shown in Figs. 3 and 4, so that thearms 36 will be released from their respective contacts at an earlierperiod at one end than at the other, so that the are will be brokenfirst on one side. In the modified or double pole structure illustratedin Fig. 3 the links Ti -T5 may be provided with guides 8(i87 if foundnecessary.

The improved device is simple in construction, can be applied withoutmaterial structural changes to line wires of various forms and to linewires employed for various purposes.

What is claimed is I 1. Inadevice of the class described, a supportingframe, a plurality of standards of insulating material spaced apart andarranged in pairs, said pairs being located at the terminals of theframe and at interme diate points thereon, clamp devices carried by saidterminal standards, line wires coupled to said terminal clamp devices atone end, electric contacts carried by said terminal clamp devices at.the opposite ends, two arms pivoted at opposite sides of said frame andin alinement with said terminal standards, electric contacts carried bysaid arms and engaging respectively with the contacts of said standards,a lever arm mounted in said frame, a segment carried by said frame andover which said lever arm operates, connecting means between said leverarm and said contact carrying arm, and means for coupling said lever tosaid segment.

2. In a device of the class described, a supporting frame, line wiresconnected to said frame and each provided with an electric contact, anarm mounted to swing upon said frame and provided with electric contactsat its ends adapted to be engaged with and disengaged from the contactsof said line wires, a conductor element between the contacts of saidswinging arm, a standard carried by said frame, a lever arm swingingfrom said standard, a segment carried by said frame and over which saidlever arm operates, connecting means between said lever arm and saidswinging contact carrying arm, and means for coupling said lever arm tosaid segment.

In testimony whereof, I aifix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

FRANK FISHER.

\Vitnesses:

C. H. Fmnow, Josnrn GUTH.

